Joshua Lefers

Joshua Lefers serves as Director of Conservation for Audubon Great Plains, leading strategic efforts to restore and protect prairie and wetland ecosystems across North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. With over a decade of experience in natural resource management and ecological outreach, he builds collaborative programs that benefit birds, people, and the landscapes they share.  

Joshua is a lifelong resident of South Dakota, and has served a variety of roles through his career. From board member of the South Dakota Grassland Coalition to founding coordinator for the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition, Joshua’s enthusiasm for improving management of natural resources stems from his connection to the family farm. Joshua believes that conservation needs to address not only ecological issues, but also be socially and economically sustainable for current and future generations. To that end, Joshua focuses on building relationships and following the science so to create a future where birds and communities thrives alongside, and because of, our grassland managers. 

Joshua lives in Corsica, SD with his wife and three daughters. He owns and operates a cattle operation and gets to experiment with management actions on the prairies and wetlands he has the privilege to steward.